The Chicago Blackhawks won their first-ever game against the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena, but they are now 0-5-1 since.

This comes after a defeat on Monday night. This was Chicago's third straight loss, which is also an 0-2-1 start to the longest road trip of the season. Following a strong start to the new year, this trip is sinking them a little bit. 

The first period was scoreless, but the Kraken got out to a 2-0 lead in the middle frame, which would last all the way through the second intermission. 

In the third period, the Blackhawks finally got on the board to make it a game. Connor Bedard's effort and speed were on full display, as he made a strong chip play along the wall to find Andre Burakovsky, who was all alone in front for the shot, and he didn't miss. 

Burakovsky's marker made it three straight games with a goal. It also extended Bedard's point streak to five games, and he has nine points in those five games. 

From there, the Blackhawks continued to have their chances, but a Frank Nazar mishap in the neutral zone led to a two-on-one for Seattle. On this play, Jordan Eberle didn't miss his chance to put the Hawks away for the night. The 3-1 score stood as the final, despite two attempts at a goalie goal for Joey Daccord, who made 29 saves on 30 shots. 

Arvid Soderblom did his job in this game. As the backup, he doesn't get the chance to get in any kind of rhythm, he just has to be ready when his name is called. He made 21 saves on 24 shots, but you can't win when you only score one goal. 

B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) on XDaccord tried to go for a goalie goal TWICE at the end 😭😭

Lack Of Execution

The Blackhawks had the shot advantage in this game, outshooting Seattle 30-24. Things evened up slightly in the third period, as the Blackhawks were leading that category 24-15 after two periods. 

A lack of execution sunk the Blackhawks. Not only did they outshoot them, but they also outpossessed them. Seattle found a way to continue blocking shots and getting sticks in the lanes, but the Blackhawks were not able to adjust at any point. 

The Blackhawks also had a major issue with missing the net. Although Daccord saw 30 shots, not many of them were of the grade-A variety, and it should have been a lot more based on the possession advantage that the Blackhawks had. 

Going forward, they'd be better served making sure that they are smarter with their shot selection, especially if they have the puck as often as they did. Perimeter chances are not usually going to work out well in the NHL. Goalies are too good. 

Oliver Moore

Oliver Moore made his NHL season debut after nine games to start the year in the AHL. In the first period, Moore was Chicago's best skater. Even throughout the rest of the game, his speed was noticeable as he attempted to create chances. 

Moore's role will expand once he gets increased NHL time. He wasn't on the penalty kill, despite being an outstanding penalty-kill player. The Rockford IceHogs run a different PK system, and Jeff Blashill wants to get him in a practice to learn his system before he throws him to the wolves.

The speed that Moore possesses is going to be mentioned on a loop for a long time. It's his number one asset for everything he does on the ice. It won't take long before he starts impacting the scoresheet with regularity. The chances in his first NHL game of the season were an indicator of what's to come. 

Watch The Blackhawks Goal

Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) on XAndre Burakovsky has goals in three straight games🔥

Next Up For Chicago

The Chicago Blackhawks are halfway done with the longest road trip of the season. Next up is a trip to Connor Bedard's home town where they will face the Vancouver Canucks for the second time this season. That will take place in British Columbia on Wednesday night. 

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The Nashville Predators' comeback effort fell short in Monday's matchup against the Vancouver Canucks as Brock Boeser scored with two seconds left in overtime to give the Canucks a 5-4 win over the Predators. 

Filip Forsberg put the Predators up early in the first period off his sixth goal of the season. Nashville fell into a 3-1 hole in the second period, and Erik Haula scored on the power play to cut into the Canucks lead. 

Vancouver built its lead back up to two goals in the early third period, but conversions from Michael Bunting and on the power play, Nick Blankenburg, sent the game to overtime.

In overtime, Elias Petterson swatted the puck to Boeser in front of the net and he scored on a backhander to end the game. It was his second goal of the game. 

"It's too bad," Predators head coach Andrew Brunette said. "I guess we're learning our lessons a little hard here. Factor (Ryan O'Reilly) did a great job winning a battle, and we kind of just let our foot off the gas.

"We got on the wrong side of stuff coming out of the corner, and that's why you play right to the buzzer." 

Here are three takeaways from the Predators loss to the Canucks 

Predators haunted by another overtime loss 

Nashville has won beyond regulation this season, which was a 5-4 shootout win over the Los Angeles Kings on Oct. 25. However, it is 0-for-3 in games decided in a five-minute overtime. 

Against the Utah Mammoth, the Predators were dominated in the possession battle and saw Utah convert just under three minutes into extra time. Against the Canadiens, Cole Caufield stung Nashville twice at the buzzer, ending the game with three seconds left in extra time. 

"It obviously sucks to lose, if it's in the first second or last second," Forsberg said. "That's kind of what I have to say about that." 

Monday was another overtime, with the opponent dominating possession. Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes hung onto the puck for long periods of time and forced the Predators to chase them. 

"You get a guy like Quinn Hughes skating around. 
He's hard to get the puck off, now he has more room, and he's kind of raging it, and waiting and waiting," Brunette said. "It kind of gets into that kind of game a little bit." 

Nashville had one chance as Brady Skjei got a good look at the net. It was able to shove a few Canucks off the puck, but the Predators could not get a good rush going.

Unlike in the past, the Predators battled back to force overtime. They faced a two-goal deficit midway through the third period and got their offense going. It was an improvement, but not enough for the win. 

"These games, the margins are so tight," Brunette said. "Night in and night out and for us to succeed, we're going to have a lot of these games. 
The positive I take out is we're going through it and we'll get better for it." 

Power play flourished, penalty kill struggled 

On most nights, the Predators' power play is bad, and the penalty kill is elite. Coming into Monday's game, Nashville had a 12.5% (30th) power-play efficiency and an 88.4% (6th) penalty-killing efficiency. 

Against the Canucks, it was the power play that dominated and the penalty kill that sputtered. 

The Predators' power play converted on 2-of-4 opportunities, which included the game-tying goal. It's the first time this season the Predators have scored twice on the power play in a game and the first time since April. 10, they've scored more than once with the man advantage. 

"It's a big point for us being down two goals. It's never easy to come back in this league, and good resiliency by our group," Haula said. "It's nice that our power play was able to step up. We've been needing that." 

It's the boost the unit has needed all season, considering the power play is one of the worst in the league. 

"Obviously, the power play needs to be going for us, and, both units are contributing," Blankenburg said. "We've just gotta continue to build out and keep moving forward." 

On the flip side, the penalty kill successfully killed off only 1 of 3 penalties. Their successful kill, which was one of two penalties on Vancouver's 5-on-3 advantage, was followed by a Canucks goal six seconds later on the 5-on-4 power play. 

Nashville also gave up a power-play goal in the first period off a long one-timer shot from the point by Evander Kane. The lapse on special teams comes after the penalty killing unit debuted customized hoodies. 

Kane scored his second goal of the game in the third period, which was on a delayed Predators penalty. It won't be counted as a power-play goal allowed, but it's another situation where Vancouver had the man advantage and scored. 

Cole Smith's presence was missed as the Predators announced Sunday that the forward was week-to-week with an upper-body injury. He has played a significant role on the penalty kill. 

Saros had to make up for offensive shortcomings...again

Nashville struggled with getting the puck on net all night, while Vancouver had no issues getting shots on Juuse Saros. 

The Predators were outshot 36-29, had just four shots on net in the first period and barely eclipsed double figures in the second period. Nashville's offense is one of the lowest-scoring in the NHL, averaging 2.46 goals per game, ranking 30th. 

Meanwhile, this was the eighth game this season that Saros was tasked with making 30-plus saves.

Saros continues to lead the NHL in shots faced and saves made, now with 361 shots faced and 325 saves made. While Saros is proving that he is one of the best goalies in the league, the Predators continue to ask a lot of him in the early season. 

Everyone on the team, including Brunette, has praised Saros' efforts this season and stated how they need to play better in front of him. The hope is that Nashville doesn't exhaust him after the first month of the season. 

Up next: Nashville Predators at Minnesota Wild on Tuesday, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. CST 

The Pittsburgh Penguins played perhaps their most dominant period of season in their Monday evening tilt against the Toronto Maple Leafs. 

After a solid opening frame and carrying a 2-0 lead into first intermission on goals from Erik Karlsson (1) and rookie Ben Kindel (4), the Penguins absolutely dominated the Leafs in the second period. They outshot the Leafs, 16-3, and Kindel added a third tally on the power play. Everything was humming. The Leafs had just nine shots on goal after 40. The Penguins had complete control.

Then, an old, all-too-familiar version of the Penguins showed up in the third period. 

Heading into this game, the Penguins had not surrendered a third-period lead and were outscoring opponents, 20-9. They seemed to be an entirely different third-period team than the ones of the past three non-playoff years - when no lead was safe, and the final frame was always an adventure. 

Unfortunately, that's what happened. The Penguins' 3-0 lead in the third period was decimated in within the first seven minutes of the final frame - courtesy of an Auston Matthews breakaway goal and two subsequent goals by William Nylander, who returned to the lineup Monday after missing two games to injury - and the Leafs scored the back-breaker with a little more than six minutes to go in regulation when Bobby McCann put home a second-chance opportunity. 

For 40 minutes, this was just about as good a response game as the Penguins could have asked for after a tough loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday. But they were harshly reminded that they cannot afford to take their foot off the gas and need to play a full 60, especially after outclassing what has been a perennial playoff team for the first two periods.

Penguins Get Buried Early, Snap Eight-Game Point StreakThe Pittsburgh Penguins couldn't beat the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday.

"We got away from it," head coach Dan Muse said after the game. "We felt the first two periods are the way we want to be playing. It has to be a full 60, though. We got away from it there.

"I think it was a number of different factors. I think when they took momentum there, we weren't able to at least pause the momentum. It kept coming, and then we're back on our heels, and we can't play the game that way. I mean, the things that were working there in the first two periods, they're things that can be sustainable. But we got away from them, and it can't happen."

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Here are some thoughts and observations from this brutal loss:

- Let's start with some positives. And, wow, what a player Benjamin Kindel is.

It's not too early to start saying that this kid is a star. He's going to be exactly that. You simply don't see 18-year-old centers come up and dominate the way Kindel has so quickly at the NHL level, and he's doing it against elite competition in what is often the opposition's top-six. 

He did it again Monday. He fits in seamlessly on a power play with three surefire Hall-of-Famers. He's crashing the net. He's generating chances left and right and has consistently been the best player on the ice for the better part of the last three games. According to Moneypuck, his line controlled 95.5 percent of the expected goals share against the Leafs (and, by the way, Ville Koivunen was very good in this game, too).

95.5 percent. Let that sink in.

Ben Kindel is tied for the league lead in goals among NHL rookies with five 👀 pic.twitter.com/C01c6WMeki

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) November 4, 2025

This guy is 18! I can't emphasize enough how this just doesn't happen. Kindel is a very, very special player, and he is now tied for the rookie lead in goals. 

Get hyped, Penguins' fans. This guy is going to be - and already is - a very, very good hockey player.

- Karlsson played another outstanding game. His first goal of the season was a rocket and a beauty, and it was well-earned.

He is now up to 11 points in his first 14 games. He continues to be a huge difference-maker for the Penguins.

- The Penguins' special teams are really something. The penalty kill has stymied 16 of the last 17 opposing power plays - and is now top-10 - and the power play is second in the league at 32.4 percent. 

If they can keep this up with special teams, it will help them win a lot of hockey games.

Can The Penguins Take Advantage Of A Weak Metropolitan Division?When projecting how everything would look one month into the 2025-26 NHL season, most people didn't have the <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/pittsburgh-penguins">Pittsburgh Penguins</a> as one of the league's top teams.&nbsp;

- Now, let's get to the bad. 

To be honest, I had nearly written an entire piece that was a glowing endorsement of this team. Let's just say that I had to scrap all of that and write something completely different.

I don't know what happened, to be honest. The Penguins had an absolute stranglehold on this game, and they just completely stopped playing for the first seven minutes of the third and let the Leafs walk right back in.

To the Leafs' credit, they did come out strong in the third. But this simply cannot happen. They lapsed entirely defensively. Matthews never should have gotten behind Ryan Shea and Kris Letang on the first goal. Jarry should not have allowed the second. The Penguins were outskated on the third and hemmed in their own zone. Owen Pickering was burned badly by McCann on the winning goal, and he couldn't recover or do anything to stop him - and neither could Harrison Brunicke at the net front.

MANN THAT WAS CLUTCH!!@OREO | #LeafsForeverpic.twitter.com/P0L2135di0

— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) November 4, 2025

The third period was nothing short of a disaster, and it happened so quickly. It's something the Penguins can learn from, but we've seen this movie many, many times before.

- Speaking of Pickering and Brunicke, that last goal really was a shame because I thought they were pretty solid for most of the evening. Brunicke - playing in his ninth NHL game, which is the final one before his entry-level contract would kick in at the 10th, should he stay - was especially solid in the first 40 minutes, and this was good to see after a rough outing in Winnipeg.

But, unfortunately, Brunicke needed to stand out in a good way in this game, since he is now at that 10-game mark, where the Penguins need to make a decision on him. I do think the fourth goal was mostly on Pickering, and I think it's hard to single Brunicke or Pickering out when the entire team fell apart in the third - and when it probably wouldn't have mattered who was on the ice because the Leafs tying it felt inevitable.

What Will The Penguins Do With Top Defensive Prospect Harrison Brunicke?On Thursday, it was confirmed by <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/pittsburgh-penguins">Pittsburgh Penguins</a>' head coach Dan Muse that 18-year-old center <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/pittsburgh-penguins/players/penguins-top-prospect-ben-kindel-to-remain-in-pittsburgh">Ben Kindel will remain in the NHL through his 10th game</a>, meaning the first year of his three-year entry-level contract will kick in.&nbsp;

I'm not sure he did enough in this game to sway the coaching staff or management more toward keeping him. He was good for most of it, but he was on the ice for the back-breaking goal, and he had a small hand in it.

If I'm the Penguins, I'm keeping Brunicke regardless. More on that later. But I just think there is far too much risk in sending him back to juniors, especially when his bad habits probably can't be addressed in any super meaningful way at that level. 

Let him take his lumps at the NHL level and learn from two legends on the right side, and let him get direction from this coaching staff. That's where I'm at.

- Jarry - playing in his 300th NHL game - was not good in this one. I realize that it can be difficult for a goaltender when they are essentially coming into a third period cold because they hadn't seen any action for 40 minutes.

But he just didn't have it Monday. That second goal was brutal.

Penguins' Goaltender Hits Big MilestoneAnother <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/pittsburgh-penguins">Pittsburgh Penguin</a> has hit a career milestone.&nbsp;

- Speaking of brutal, this was a brutal game for Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust defensively, and that theme is becoming a bit too common. I'm not really sure what the solution is other than breaking them up for a bit, but I don't expect that to happen.

- Noel Acciari left the game in the first period with an upper-body injury and did not return. Muse put the Penguins' lines in a blender for the rest of the game as a result.

Admittedly, I was not a fan of this approach. 

I realize it's not easy to adjust to being down a forward that early in the game. But nothing was consistent the rest of the game, especially in the third period. And I just think they were breaking up some chemistry that was working for them due to the injury of a fourth-line player. It wasn't the worst decision, but I don't think the constant switching helped them in the third. 

I'm also not sure how I feel about Crosby, Rust, and Malkin together. I'd rather see Kindel or Koivunen take one of their places if they're going to shake things up. 

- The Penguins return home to play the Washington Capitals on Thursday. 

The response after this gut-wrenching loss will say a lot about this team. Stay tuned. 

5 Reasons The Penguins Might Be For RealThere were surely a lot of items on NHL bingo cards heading into the 2025-26 season.&nbsp;

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The Pittsburgh Penguins had everything going for them on Monday against the Toronto Maple Leafs until they didn't. 

They played two of their best periods all season to start the game. They were ferocious in all three zones. Ben Kindel once again showed that he belongs in the NHL. Erik Karlsson was a monster in the offensive zone and scored his first goal of the season. Harrison Brunicke was looking calm and composed on the third pair. He was simplifying things after his rough outing in Winnipeg. Tristan Jarry was potentially on his way to another shutout. 

Then, the third period happened. Auston Matthews made the Penguins pay when they fell asleep early in the period, and the rest snowballed from there. The Penguins completely fell asleep in their own zone, and to make matters worse, Jarry had the worst period of his season to date. He gave up a weak goal on the first William Nylander goal to make it 3-2, and one could argue he should've saved his second goal that tied the game. He also wasn't sharp on the game-winner from Bobby McMann. 

It was a period of horrors for the Penguins, and they simply couldn't stop the bleeding. Not even getting a point out of that game, let alone a win, is inexcusable. Per Bob Grove, it's only the third time in the Penguins' history that they've lost a game in which they led by three or more goals heading into the third period.

Everyone was looking for a response after Saturday's game against the Winnipeg Jets, even though the process was mostly there. Yes, they no-showed the first three minutes of the game and were put in a 2-0 hole pretty quickly, but the process was mostly there for the rest of the game. They didn't get the saves and didn't convert on their high-quality chances. Sometimes, that happens. 

They were getting the saves and finishing their chances in the first 40 minutes on Monday, and felt it was enough to win with a full period to go. When you have a team pinned down on the mat like that, especially when you're holding them to eight shots through two periods, you have to go for the knockout blow. 

The Penguins have had an outstanding start to the season and are still in a good spot in the Metropolitan Division. The points that they have earned to this point aren't suddenly going to go away. However, now that they blew that lead, it's time to see what this team is made of. The schedule isn't going to get easier for the rest of this week, with matchups against the Washington Capitals, New Jersey Devils, and Los Angeles Kings on the horizon. 

Penguins Forward Exits Maple Leafs Matchup With InjuryThis Penguins forward's night ended early due to injury.

The Capitals have lost four in a row going into Wednesday's matchup against the St. Louis Blues, but were still a playoff team last year. They're favored to return to the playoffs this year and are getting great goaltending from Logan Thompson, plus solid production from Tom Wilson, Aliaksei Protas, and Dylan Strome. Alex Ovechkin is always a threat to score, but has been limited to only two goals in 12 games to start the year. 

Jack Hughes is a strong Hart Trophy favorite right now and the biggest reason why the Devils are off to a 9-4-0 start. He has 10 goals and 16 points in 13 games, and when he's playing at this level, there aren't many players in the league who are better than him. Couple that with the fact that the Penguins often struggle to win in Newark, and it potentially gets real dicey. 

The Kings may be off to a rough start, but they still have some good players in Adrian Kempe (who also loves scoring against the Penguins), Anze Kopitar, Kevin Fiala, Brandt Clarke, and Quinton Byfield. Byfield, in particular, is close to a point-per-game (10 points in 13 games) and could be on his way to really breaking out after back-to-back 50+ point seasons. 

We're going to find out really quickly whether Monday's collapse was just a blip on the radar or a sign of things to come before the Penguins head to Sweden. 

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